Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel addresses the House on the first day of the budget session of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in Bhopal on February 16, 2026. | Photo credit: ANI
The budget session of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Monday (16 February 2026) witnessed a stormy start with opposition Congress MLAs raising a ruckus during Governor Mangubhai Patel’s speech over the recent outbreak of diarrhea in Indore due to contaminated government-supplied water that caused several deaths.
Earlier, the day’s proceedings began with the singing of six stanzas of the national song Vande Matram in accordance with the directive of the Union Home Ministry on January 28.
On February 12, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav welcomed the MHA’s move and said the state would implement the directive.
An uproar started in the assembly when Governor Patel spoke about the government’s initiatives and plans related to water and said he highlighted the project to divert the Kanh River from the Shipra River in Ujjain to prevent pollution of the river.
During this, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and Congress MLA Umang Singhar rose up and alleged that several crucial issues like providing clean tap water to rural households and deaths due to water contamination were ignored in the Governor’s speech.
Mr. Singhar said, “Dear Governor, you have skipped the page about ‘nal jal’ (tap water). You have mentioned Shipra but you have not even reached Indore where such a huge tragedy happened in Bhagirathpur.”
Addressing the speaker, Mr. Singhar said the governor had “forgotten” the issue of clean water. He was joined by various other Congress MLAs.
The LoP objection led to a chaotic situation in the House between the Opposition and Finance Ministry benches even as Mr Patel continued to read his address. While Congress MLAs resorted to anti-government slogans and protested against the governor’s speech, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs thumped the benches in support of him.
The governor read only selected portions of his full written address, which is available on the assembly’s website. After Mr Patel left the assembly, Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar said the remaining parts of his speech would be considered as read.
The tragedy in Indore’s Bhagirathpura area, which began in December 2025, has claimed 16 lives so far, according to an audit report submitted by government authorities to the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The audit was conducted by a group of doctors from the state-run Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College (MGM), which termed the causes of at least eight deaths as inconclusive.
However, local residents and media reports say at least 35 people died in the lower-middle-class locality of Indore. Contaminated water supplied by the BJP-ruled Indore Municipal Corporation caused the tragedy, and various government investigations have confirmed polymicrobial infection in the water and high levels of faecal coliform bacteria in it due to various sources, including the mixing of sewage and potable water in decades-old tightly run underground pipes.
The budget session will continue till March 6 and the budget will be presented on February 18.
Published – 17 Feb 2026 02:47 IST